Span of Care

“Span of care” is a term used to describe the number of people being cared for by someone. In Prepare Your Church for the Future Carl George proposed that while everyone needs to be cared for by someone, no one ought to be taking care of more than about ten. Looking at Exodus 18:13-25, George concluded that this would provide the maximum number of people any one person could realistically care for. He actually went on to say “research shows that ten people is usually too great a number for one person to nurture p. 125).”

What is the significance of span of care? There are several important elements:

It is a reminder that one person can’t possibly care for more than 10 small group leaders.

It can help determine the number of coaches (or Community Leaders) you must have in order to adequately care for your small group leaders.

It can force ministry leaders to be on the lookout for the next wave of “leaders of leaders.”